Cacopsylla brunneipennis

Previously known as Psylla brunneipennis but now placed in the genus Cacopsylla.

I caught two psyllids in my garden moth trap in 2018 which I identified as brunneipennis, however when I later examined several specimens of Cacopsylla melanoneura, initially making a bit of a pig's ear of their ID, I lost confidence in my earlier IDs of brunneipennis and decided to treat those as unproven. Fast forward to 2023 and I caught another somewhat similar Cacopsylla, expecting it to be another melanoneura. However although the female terminalia are rather similar, the proctiger is more downcurved than on my previous melanoneura. The genal cones also look different, more rounded at the tip rather than sheared off as they usually look on melanoneura (although they look a bit similar in one of my melanoneura photos).

The forewings were 3.2mm long and the width across the head (measured across the eyes) was 0.85mm, both firmly within range for brunneipennis and too large for most (if not all) of the similar species (including melanoneura).

This species has two forms, one dark-winged (form typica) and one more-or-less clear-winged like this (form klapaleki), although the British Bugs website says that this terminology is disputed.

female Cacopsylla brunneipennis showing genal cones, forwing and terminalia (before and after clearning), North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 11th September 2023